Cuttack, Aug. 1: The ever-growing demand for apartments in housing societies has resulted in many such colonies lacking basic requirements and proper security provisions.

Though the concept of living in a housing society is building up here in the Millennium City, most residents living in such apartments lack information essential for living safely.

“There are certain areas that need urgent attention. Residents who are living in an apartment need to be aware of some things. In most cases, people do not have basic information about a person living close to their flats,” said Manmath Senapati, 51, a local resident.

Though fire-fighting equipment is available on various levels of the buildings, many are not aware on how to use them. Such fire-fighting equipment have also become obsolete in many such apartments of the city. According to Senapati, women, children and senior citizens usually remain alone at home while the male members of a family are out during the day. So, efforts should be initiated to create awareness and educate them on how to react and initiate steps to extinguish fire using such fire equipment.

In most apartments, there is only one exit route; something that may prove fatal in case of any major fire mishap.

In a bid to overcome such issues, the police are trying to build confidence among the residents of various apartments and have assured full support to overcome certain issues by organising meetings on a regular basis.

“We are ready to extend our support to the residents of various apartments. It is important that people are aware of what is happening in and around their society. There are certain areas that need to be addressed and efforts will be made to ensure that such problems are solved,” said deputy commissioner of police Praveen Kumar.

According to senior police officials, deployment of trained security guards, installation of close circuit television cameras (CCTV) and fire equipment are the basic requirements of safety.

However, it has been found that there are no proper checks and visitors’ registers are not maintained to keep vigil on outsiders who come into apartments. According to senior officials, one needs to follow certain prescribed guidelines including installation of “integrated security locks” and iron grills and a magic eye on the main door for their own safety.

Apart from this, the security guard at any apartment should have the contact numbers of all the residents besides phone numbers of emergency services such as fire brigade, ambulance and the nearest police station. Verification of the credentials of the security guards and domestic help is also a must. “We are hopeful that the security tips given by the police will help us strengthen security measures needed for every individual living in the housing society,” said the president of Metro Plaza phase-1 residents welfare association, Gulam Zilani Khan.